Not all PR is good PR
Our product is officially (and finally) in store!
We will have to wait for a fortnight for data on sales from Sainsburys, and that’s only if they decide to give to us it. When we trialled another product a while ago, a major high-street retailer told us that they were not obliged to give out data at all, and that hasn’t changed. You can ‘buy’ it from ACNeilson, but it costs a lot of money to subscribe, and I would rather use my entrepreneurial skills and general wiliness to persuade them to tell me what the sales stats are, broken down by region and by store. It would really help to target our marketing spend.
Things haven’t eased off at all, though. I now need to concentrate on forecasting and planning, something I’ve not yet had to do in great detail. We have to think about stock and turnaround, as we’ve no real idea about how well it’s going to sell, so we need to make sure that we have enough stock ready just in case. Entrepreneurs need to have confidence in their products in every respect – and I could probably put the product out to other channels as things are going so well (lots of press last week and the Spicer’s catalogue is proving to be a success …).
I still want to hire someone to get that extra pair of sales hands, as it’s been so busy, especially on the promotions side. Every piece of PR should enhance the brand. But not all PR is good PR. Case in point: a local paper used a stock image of me holding up a well-known brand of bottled water (label clearly on show), and quoted me advising people to stick to tap water and not end up creating waste through bottled water.
Cue me being contacted by the company who weren’t happy with this, saying that they welcome new products that make water more interesting (that’s O2GO!), but not to use the image again. So, I asked the newspaper not to use this photo again. Needless to say they did – twice– and I was threatened with legal action. I think it’s all sorted now, but this type of thing doesn’t cross your mind! The journalist took me out of context, it was water, not that specific brand that I was commenting on.
On another note, PR is bringing a lot of people out of the woodwork who weren’t particularly willing to help when I started the business. They wouldn’t take the risk and it takes guts to do it – an entrepreneur has to take the risk at the start and investors need to do the same.
So, back to hiring someone - I’m not going to advertise. Entrepreneurs should go out of their way to network and be economical with the cash, it’s paramount. I’ve found an interested university student who has assured me he would do a good job, so I may take him on for two days per week. He gets work experience, pay at the market rate and I get the help I need. I am very nervous about this though, as I’ve nurtured the business for two and a half years - I don’t know if you’ve seen The Baby Borrowers on TV at the moment?! It’s rather like that, I feel I am giving responsibility up for my baby … I am worried that people will not do such a comprehensive job of looking after the business as I would. But it’s a hurdle I’ll have to get over if I want to move the business on, as businesses are based around great ideas put into practice by talented people with great skills.
